More Costa Concordia passengers join law suit filed in Miami

Written by Nick Blenkey

costastackMore Costa Concordia passengers have joined a lawsuit filed in Florida state court in Miami against Carnival Corporation, Carnival Cruise Lines Inc., and Costa Crociere SPA by law firms Napoli Bern Ripka Shkolnik and Proner & Proner.

The suit was originally filed as a $460 million class action suit. But the amended suit filed Monday on behalf of 39 plaintiffs is a mass tort filed collectively as individual actions. The suit makes state law claims for Maritime Negligence, Gross Negligence, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress and Negligent Retention. The amended suit adds Fraudulent Misrepresentation and Fraudulent Inducement.

The plaintiffs will seek punitive damages for the conduct of the cruise ship’s officers and staff, which the suit alleges demonstrated a reckless disregard for human life and property.

A statement issued by the Proner law firm today said: “After evaluating the legal issues surrounding a class action in this particular case, we feel that filing a class-action on behalf of victims of the Costa Concordia cruise ship accident is not in their best interests at this point. Instead, we have filed individual actions collectively out of the belief that approaching this case as a mass tort rather than a class action will result in the greatest likelihood of our clients receiving the most significant economic recovery possible.”

February 14, 2014

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